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DJI A2 Upgrade. Need power suggestions please!

Discussion in 'Cinestar 8' started by Christopher Simons, Feb 9, 2016.

  1. Christopher Simons

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    Hey guys and gals! I fly a CS8 with all MK stuff. I have been wanting to upgrade to the A2 FC and was going to use the Freefly Motor Control, which up until last week was still available on their webstore. I have just purchased the A2 and was getting ready order the FF MC and it has been removed. I am just now beginning my search on google and other stores for suitable replacements, but I wanted to see if anyone here was using the A2 and what you were running for power distribution and ESCs. I'd appreciate the help in advance. Thanks!

    Christopher
     
  2. Ozkan Erden

    Ozkan Erden Distributor

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    I'd recommend KDE or Herkules III ESCs in terms of reliability and performance. They both are great controllers. If you are not carrying a full cinema setup, you can go with Herkules III, and you dont need PDB for that. For KDE ESCs, I use power hungry's 400A PDB.

    One of the users here selling Herkules III boards for a reasonable price, you can check them.
     
  3. Christopher Simons

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    Awesome! Thank you very much for helping out. I think the Herkules would be a good option for us. I'll look around for them. Thanks again!

    Chris
     
  4. Fabien Deregel

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    Hi,

    what MK Esc board do you have ? There is a PPM input available on MK ES<c's, even on the double quadro cool board :)

    If you want to switch motors also you can go for DJI E800 + 620 S ESC's or E1200 + ESC + boom mounts ( all integrated ) but you will need longer booms and it makes the CS8 less transportable lol ! I modified a CS8 for a customer with the latest MK stuffs + U5 + 15 inches and longer booms and it's pretty big :) With E1200 and 17 inches props it would be massive. But you would have insane flight time as now DJI uses sinusoidal / Field Oriented control ESC's.

    IF you want to keep motors and props best would be first to check the version of MK esc board you have before buying new Esc board and use the PPM input, will require a bit of tuning in the MK TOOLS ( use the MK flight controller + USB link to adjust end points for correct motor startup and max throttle, without blades of course... )

    Or i could send you our prototypes ESC's but i doubt you want to fly also inverted with your CS8 :D



    Best regards,
    Fabien
     
  5. Christopher Simons

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    Hey Fabien, thank you very much for the response! Actually though a few minutes before you hit 'post', I pulled the trigger on a Power Hungry PDB and a set of ESCs from KDE Direct to accompany the A2 FC. This way, at this point I won't replace any motors. I do have a few on hand as spares, but I'm sure at some point there will be an upgrade in the works for that as well! I'm excited to remove and replace the MK stack and get this new gear all installed and then let the tweaking begin! Thanks again!

    Christopher
     
  6. Ozkan Erden

    Ozkan Erden Distributor

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    MK BL Ctrl 3.0 ESCs are very fragile. Even my average amp draw with KDE 4014XFs are 15A, I had around 7 failures so far with MK BL Ctrl 3.0. Even though they are rated at 30A continous / 60A peak, it is not really up to its specs.

    For instance, Herkules III has the same specs on the paper; but Herkules III can run KDE 5215XF-435KV motors without an issue while MK BL Ctrl 3.0 blows up in almost 10 seconds.

    Christopher, what motors are you using?
     
  7. Christopher Simons

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    I'm running, at the moment, the stock QC motors. I will be using the DJI A2 as Flight Control, Power Hungry DS-10 as Power Distribution and KDE Direct ESCs. I will not be using any of my MK equipment.
     
  8. Alex Fuller

    Alex Fuller Member

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    Are you running 4s or 6s? I ran the old QC motors on 6S when I converted my cinestar from MK to Wookong and was having some issues with overheating and efficiency. I would suggest a motor upgrade as well if you are doing 6S, the KDE 4014's are great. I switched to them and its night and day compared to those QC motors.
     
  9. Christopher Simons

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    Alex, I'm running 4S right now. Good to know about the overheating issues you had. At some point I am going to upgrade to the 4014's and when I do that I'll move to a 6S system. But, for now I'll just keep the 4S. Thanks for the heads up!

    Christopher
     

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